It’s been a busy time around here. Aside from a may product release at HMS as we launched TimeControl 7.3, I’ve had some other activities underway. This week I was delighted to be able to do a talk with the ProjectSummit*Business Analyst World conference in Orlando. I do some volunteer time with the advisory board of the PW*BA conference. I’ve been associated to ProjectWorld since the very first conference ever in Toronto over 20 years…

“Can your system help us? We have two distinct groups.” This is a remarkably common request here at HMS. In our case we’re talking about how to take care of timesheet collection for multiple groups using our TimeControl timesheet system but the request is common to many project management environments. This comes up whenever we have multiple groups trying to use the same project control environment. From one perspective, there are many benefits to grouping…

There are a number of articles and some soon-to-publish in the works for EPMGuidance but I thought I’d share some writing that has appeared elsewhere. Last month Canada’s largest national newspaper the Globe and Mail asked me to contribute a piece to their Leadership Lab. The article discusses how a niche business like my own HMS Software has been able to be so successful at having clients many times our size. Since we started in…

As followers of the blog know, I do some volunteer work with the ProjectWorld*Business Analyst World Orlando Advisory Board. I’ve been involved with Project World since its creation 21 years ago and have been privileged to speak at many of the conferences. I will be speaking again at the Orlando Summit which will be from April 16-18, 2018. If you are interested in attending the conference, early registration discounts are available until February 10 at: https://www.pmbaconferences.com/orlando/registration.html?utm_source=PMBA_ORL&utm_medium=Pop_up&utm_campaign=PSBAORL18-10. I look forward to meeting some…

I get this question on a regular basis, “Why can’t I just start with Resource Capacity Planning? That’s all I want from our EPM anyway.” In many lectures when I talk about what is Enterprise Project Management, I show a collection of possible definitions. Perhaps EPM is just system compliance, where everyone uses the same system. Perhaps it’s document management, perhaps it’s timesheeting. All of these answers are potentially accurate for any one organization but…

When we think of Project Managers we tend to think of communications as one of their key skills. I’ve spoken numerous times about the importance of communications in project management. These days we tend to think of how connected we are. In the last 20 years, communications has evolved at an ever-increasing pace. We think nothing now of being connected 24×7 no matter where we are in the world. We are linked to the Internet…

I’m very much looking forward to speaking at the Eastern Iowa chapter of the PMI in Cedar Rapids during their Professional Development Day event on Friday, October 20th. We’ll be talking about how to increase resource capacity; one of my favorite topics. For those who are attending the event, please make sure to say hello. For those interested in the PMI Eastern Iowa event, visit PMIEasternIowa.org/events/event-listing/meetings/2017-professional-development-day.

My company, HMS Software, just released a brand new version of our keystone product, TimeControl. That’s great news of course and you can read all about it at HMS at: www.timecontrol.com/features/latest but what went into this development and release has our company thinking about development quite differently and so this post is more about how software development philosophies are evolving. It’s certainly a watershed moment for us. TimeControl has been a browser-based product since 1999…

We have an unnatural confidence in dashboards. When we see dashboard indicators we make all kinds of assumptions about them that may or not be true. But we depend on them all the same. This isn’t restricted to just project management dashboards though I have more experience with those than any others but dashboard indicators of all kinds. Think about this. When you are driving and you see a green light, don’t you go through…

I’m struck by the degree in recent times that our world is filled with uncertainty. Oh there has always been uncertainty. I know that. Control is an illusion but lately so many things that people have counted on have become uncertain. Geo-Politics In the geo-political sphere in the last few months we’ve seen big changes in the way the US Administration works. No matter which side of the American political divide you’re on, I doubt…